Big toe going numb when cycling

Triathlon Forum
1

So i got a pair of the sworks 6 shoes and have been getting extremely frustrated by them. I’ve been getting numb feet in them from the start.

A little background:

  • i used to wear entry level fizik shoes of which the sole was nowhere near as stiff as the ones on the sworks.
  • it feels as if there is a constant pressure underdeath the ball of my foot toward my big toe. That’s where the numbness starts and spreads to the whole front.
  • my bikefitter used in-shoe wedges and cleat wedges to correct my knee alignement with my old shoes. Because spez shoes have a built in correction i only kept the cleat wedges, but that seemed to make things worse, so i’m experimenting with different setups. I tried riding without but my knee started hitting the top tube, so decided i need more correction.
  • i have high arches and use the green spez insoles so i tried to ride with the boas as loose as possible to check if it was a bloodflow issue.

Kind of desperate after a few weeks of frustrating rides and turbosessions so i decided to turn to the allknowing slowtwitchers. Hate to think all those benjamins are down the drain.
Any suggestions for setup?

2

I’d remove the wedges and find a footbed with proper support (or build support under your current one) as your feet are fighting the additional canting as it’s unnatural. If numbness persists you may need a metatarsal button (support behind the metatarsal head) although this is more common when numbness starts at the second toe.

3

I’d remove the wedges and find a footbed with proper support (or build support under your current one) as your feet are fighting the additional canting as it’s unnatural. If numbness persists you may need a metatarsal button (support behind the metatarsal head) although this is more common when numbness starts at the second toe.

I use the green +++ specialized insoles, which have all of what you mentioned. I’m actually considering going to a less aggressive insole to see what happens.

4

Are you sure your shoes are A) the right size and B) not being closed too tight (cut circulation generally starts at the big toe)?

5

Are you sure your shoes are A) the right size and B) not being closed too tight (cut circulation generally starts at the big toe)?

Sorry but have you read anything of my original post?

6

Yes and I’m checking to see the basics have been taken into account. If your shoes are too big or too small it would explain quite a bit.

7

Regardless of the insoles I used or how loosely I tightened the boas, I had the same problem. The sworks are simply too narrow for me (and perhaps too narrow for you).

8

So i got a pair of the sworks 6 shoes and have been getting extremely frustrated by them. I’ve been getting numb feet in them from the start.

When you say “from the start”, do you mean getting numbness from since you got the shoes? In a ride, how long does it take for them to go numb?

  • i used to wear entry level fizik shoes of which the sole was nowhere near as stiff as the ones on the sworks.

This is a good and useful observation on your part, and I’m glad you noted that - stiffness of the sole can certainly exacerbate any issues that might be lurking.

  • it feels as if there is a constant pressure underdeath the ball of my foot toward my big toe. That’s where the numbness starts and spreads to the whole front.

Is the numbness a tingling sensation, or more of a “cold/dead’ish” feeling?

  • my bikefitter used in-shoe wedges and cleat wedges to correct my knee alignement with my old shoes. Because spez shoes have a built in correction i only kept the cleat wedges, but that seemed to make things worse, so i’m experimenting with different setups. I tried riding without but my knee started hitting the top tube, so decided i need more correction.

I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but as a fitter, I tend to think in terms of “accommodating the human body’s natural alignment and encouraging efficiency through good alignment” rather than “correcting”. :slight_smile: Now that I got that off my chest, wedges are an appropriate tool to not only provide support for proper knee tracking (with the knee as a component of the lower extremity and just one link in the chain), but to also distribute pressures effectively. They can be a bit tricky, and the shoes also confuse the issue, for a lack of a better way of putting it. I have lots of questions:

  1. In your Fizik setup, how many cleat wedges and in-the-shoe wedges did you have in each foot?
  2. Were the in-the-shoe wedges heel wedges or forefoot wedges?
  3. What combination of things do you have installed now?
  4. Before arriving where you are now, did you try anything else (i.e., only in-the-shoe, only cleat wedges, other combinations, etc.)?
  5. Is one foot worse than the other?
  6. How do your knees feel now? Any pains, twinges, etc.? Anything on the inside of the knee? Any pains or different sensations below the knee?
  • i have high arches and use the green spez insoles so i tried to ride with the boas as loose as possible to check if it was a bloodflow issue.

You have really done a good job of thinking through this - it’s always hard to help remotely like this, but you have shared a lot of good information here.

9

I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but as a fitter, I tend to think in terms of “accommodating the human body’s natural alignment and encouraging efficiency through good alignment” rather than “correcting”. :slight_smile:

This. So much this.

10

Actually Grill makes a great point. The sub6 are stupidly narrow and if your toes are being scrunched together at the front of the shoe, it will impede blood flow. You asked for advice, don’t get mad when someone asks an important question. Pause and think about why someone might ask this question.

Are you sure your shoes are A) the right size and B) not being closed too tight (cut circulation generally starts at the big toe)?

Sorry but have you read anything of my original post?

11

constant pressure underdeath the ball of my foot toward my big toe. That’s where the numbness starts and spreads to the whole front

are you sure the toe box is tall enough in this shoe?

i ask the question as i used to ride specialized shoes for several years, then bought a new specialized shoe and this time around the toe box was lower than before: quite simply my big toes were being squashed between the top of the shoe and the sole. It would be fine for short rides but get increasingly painful over longer rides.

i moved to shimano and have had no problems since.

12

Get your physiotherapist to check a few things, including sacroiliac joint mobility and neural tension in slump test…

13

When you say “from the start”, do you mean getting numbness from since you got the shoes? In a ride, how long does it take for them to go numb?

Numbness starts after about 30minutes. I had it on the first ride, but thought that I had to get used to the stiffer sole and had to figure out how to adjust them properly, but after a month I’m still struggling. Also I felt alot of road vibration to trough the sole, which I’m more accustomed to now, but I did consider putting in a thin leather lining underneath the specialized sole.

Is the numbness a tingling sensation, or more of a “cold/dead’ish” feeling?

It starts off as a pressure underneath the ball of my foot and develops more to a feeling like there’s a wedge being driven between my first and second metatarsal. I’d describe it more as a cold feeling, which get kind of painful after a while and spreads to the whole front foot.

I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but as a fitter, I tend to think in terms of “accommodating the human body’s natural alignment and encouraging efficiency through good alignment” rather than “correcting”. :slight_smile: Now that I got that off my chest, wedges are an appropriate tool to not only provide support for proper knee tracking (with the knee as a component of the lower extremity and just one link in the chain), but to also distribute pressures effectively. They can be a bit tricky, and the shoes also confuse the issue, for a lack of a better way of putting it. I have lots of questions:

  1. In your Fizik setup, how many cleat wedges and in-the-shoe wedges did you have in each foot?
  2. Were the in-the-shoe wedges heel wedges or forefoot wedges?
  3. What combination of things do you have installed now?
  4. Before arriving where you are now, did you try anything else (i.e., only in-the-shoe, only cleat wedges, other combinations, etc.)?
  5. Is one foot worse than the other?
  6. How do your knees feel now? Any pains, twinges, etc.? Anything on the inside of the knee? Any pains or different sensations below the knee?

Right, I agree. I have been working on gluteal strength and knee stabilization. I use orthotics in my normal and running shoes, and I guess having been extremely corrected in my cycling shoes just didn’t really offer my lower limbs any chance to get stronger and stable while on the bike.

  1. In the Fizik’s I used 1 cleat wedge, 1 in the shoe wedge and a 3° heel wedge.
  2. See above
  3. Last ride I rode with only 3° heel wedges.
  4. I tried:
  • No wedges
  • ITS wedges only
  • Heel wedges only
  • Cleat wedges only
  • Cleat and heel wedges

  1. Yes my left foot is the main problem, my right seems to be alright. Last ride was a 120k ride without any wedges, after which my right foot only started playing up after 3h in the saddle. Left foot was alright for about 45min and then started to get proggressivly worse. Quarq does show a 53% R - 47% L imbalance, which I never used to have, always was around 50-50.

  2. After the last 120k ride, which was without any wedges, my left knee was sore. Even during the ride I felt my knee was very unstable and I was missing support in my shoes (which really shouldn’t be to surprising as I’ve been riding with a ton of wedges before).

One last point: The fizik shoes were way more narrow than the sworks, the first few rides it really felt like my feet were swimming in the toebox. I did need to move on from fizik because I was actually wearing a size to big to fit in the narrow toebox. I have a thin heel, so needed something that would grip on to it, while still having a roomier toebox, which the sworks have. When I put the shoes on they feel like gloves, it’s just when i start riding they really hurt my feet. The first few rides however I actually thought i needed thicker socks or something to fill up all the room in there, so I’m thinking my feet are still getting used to spreading pressure over a broader platform aswel. Not sure if this makes any sense, but it does in my head haha.

Actually Grill makes a great point. The sub6 are stupidly narrow and if your toes are being scrunched together at the front of the shoe, it will impede blood flow. You asked for advice, don’t get mad when someone asks an important question. Pause and think about why someone might ask this question.

Not getting mad and certainly didn’t mean to sound ungrateful, I’m just way further in the process of analyzing this issue that questions like that seemed like a waste of time.
And coming from fizik, the specialized shoes actually feel like boats with plenty of room.

are you sure the toe box is tall enough in this shoe?

i ask the question as i used to ride specialized shoes for several years, then bought a new specialized shoe and this time around the toe box was lower than before: quite simply my big toes were being squashed between the top of the shoe and the sole. It would be fine for short rides but get increasingly painful over longer rides.

i moved to shimano and have had no problems since.

I actually went back to the shop thinking I bought them half a size to big. Tried out every size I could, and I’m on the right size for sure.

Thanks for all your replies! Very grateful to see that many people chipping in their ideas!

14

What do your feet size to point and what is the MP of your S-Works?

15

What do your feet size to point and what is the MP of your S-Works?

28.8cm and shoes are a EU 45 or US 11.5
.

16

So you’re heel to toe sizes 28.8cm and your S-Works are 29cm? If that’s the case they’re too small. I’ve fit WC skiers that can’t handle that.

17

So you’re heel to toe sizes 28.8cm and your S-Works are 29cm? If that’s the case they’re too small. I’ve fit WC skiers that can’t handle that.

Honestly im past the point of size. As i posted before I went back to the shop and tried every size that might remotely fit my feet. And these really are the right size The shop owner spent 45min with me trying out shoes.

As a reference: my big toe stops at the top of the S logo, which still gives me plenty of room up front.

18

Well the numbers you’re giving me don’t add up, but okay.
So you’re using a very supportive footbed on a high arch (likely collapsed judging by your knees knocking the top tube sans wedge) with both cleat and shoe wedges? As I said before, the pain/numbness in your big toe is likely due to your foot fighting an unnatural position (it wants to pronate, but is being forcefully canted causing more pressure on the inside).
You may require a properly built footbed. Can’t you feel the support under the arch when standing neutral, and is there a gap visible between the top of the support and your arch when the windlass effect is taken into account (slightly bend your knees over your toes and lift your toes leaving the rest of your foot on the ground)?

19

Cycling shoes that were too narrow gave me a “Morton’s neuroma”. I recommend that you make an appointment with your doc and get an ultrascan of your foot to eliminate this.

20

I had similar issue and tried many things including two fitters and multiple pairs of new shoes, insoles, and with and without wedges. My foot would go numb, in one spot that would spread to whole of my front of my foot would be numb and then feel cold. It was worse when it was hot outside. I would end up taking my foot out of my shoe and riding with my foot on top of my shoes for a time to get feeling back in the front of my foot.

I ended up ordering custom shoes.

It appears your issue started with your new shoes which points to they are the issue. I hope you can resolve your issue.